'Krypton' Review: 'Game of Thrones' In The DC Universe It Is Not

Krypton is going to have an uphill battle at Syfy when it premieres later this month.

Because the series is a Warner Bros. production and not NBCU, it won’t get the benefit of living on low viewership while selling well internationally to stay alive at the network. It needs to perform.

The one saving grace is because the IP is so easily marketable globally, there’s a scenario where Warner Bros. offers the series for scraps in season two to keep it on the air should a bubble situation arise.

Of course, the hope is the name will sell itself, and the show is likely to rake in high viewership for its series premiere. But, after that, it’s just too hard to say.

Review:

Everyone wants their Game of Thrones. Every network you can think off. Especially now, with the HBO epic on its way out, everyone is looking for its replacement. For Syfy, the hope is their’s will be Krypton… but they should keep looking.

Set centuries before the birth of Superman, Krypton follows the journey of Seg-El, who faces immense challenges amid a political upheaval on the planet while a mysterious enemy named Brainiac is fast approaching.

Krypton is a pretty show with a rich world. It sucks dry every dollar it can to build Superman’s birth world. And in that respect, the series succeeds.

Unfortunately, the fears of “who wants to watch a Superman show without Superman” are confirmed as things move along. Instead of working to make the show about the rise of House El, and having confidence in that premise, the series opts to input an external villain that is ultimately tied to the famed DC hero.

It’s likely the external threat of Brainiac was added to give the show a ticking clock. The only problem is the series already has a normal ticking clock in the tension to be built out of audiences waiting for Seg to claim his throne.

The addition, Brainiac just forces the characters down rabbit-holes no one is going to care about. We know he won’t succeed because if he did, Krypton wouldn’t exist and Superman would never be born. It eliminates stakes and turns a needless subplot into the series’ entire narrative thrust.

Most importantly, though, is it’s hard to pin down who exactly this show is for.Is it for Superman fans? Because they aren’t getting any Superman. Is it for DC fans? Because they have much better offerings on The CW. Is it for general comic book fans? Because, again, they have other options.

Maybe Krypton course corrects down the road, but for right now it’s kind of hard to figure out what it’s trying to be.